We have rich. We have poor. We have Irish, Latinos, gays, straights — you name it, we have it. That’s the part we’re celebrating the most.

TRENTON — When the Church of the Sacred Heart got its start, there was no single building that housed its parishioners. They gathered in each other’s homes, or in each other’s businesses, to share their Catholic faith with Bibles pressed open to pray and celebrate the liturgy.

Now, as the church prepares to celebrate 200 years of holding services in the city, its parishioners are its heart just as much as they were back in the 1700s, according to its pastor, the Rev. Dennis Apoldite.

Apoldite, who is in his second stint as pastor of Sacred Heart, said the church traces its beginnings to the late 1700s when religious gatherings were held in homes and businesses. The groups of Catholics, predominately of Irish, German and French descent, began to grow, and the expanding congregation led John Baptist Sartori, a Catholic Trenton resident who owned a macaroni shop near the present-day Rho nightclub, to purchase land on the corner of Market and Lamberton streets in the city to build a formal meeting place.

“There was tremendous growth in the parish at that time,’’ Apoldite said and the small brick building built on the site was called St. John the Baptist. “It was dedicated to him in 1814. It drew about 30 families from the Trenton and Pennsylvania areas and became the first Catholic parish in New Jersey.”

Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine began joining the Catholic congregation about 14 years later, and that first 1,500-square-foot church could no longer accommodate its parishioners, Apoldite said. That led to the building of the Church of the Sacred Heart, complete with a three-story bell tower, in 1848 at its present site on the corner of Broad and Center streets.

Nearly 900 parishioners and clergy members call the church home now, Apoldite said, and they will begin celebrating the church’s 200-year journey next month. In preparation, about $400,000 was spent this summer to refurbish its doors, repaint its steeples and replace several window panels in the church’s towers that were blown out during Hurricane Sandy, Apoldite said.

“We’re focused on our anniversary coming up and wanted to keep our property looking good,” Apoldite said. “But it’s the holy, giving, united people we’re celebrating, not so much the buildings.”

The anniversary celebrations will continue throughout next year, with memorial services to honor its humble beginnings, including a special blessing ceremony for couples who were married in the church, Apoldite said.

The structure, like its congregation, has grown and changed over the years. A wing was added in 1856 to accommodate more parishioners, and in 1883 a fire destroyed much of the building, with the old St. John’s bell as its lone survivor, Apoldite said. Work began immediately to build a new church, and that building, which stands today, was completed in 1889, he said.

In 2002, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Over the years, there have been other renovations, including the restoration of the church’s stained glass windows in 2011, but nothing that took away from its Roman-style architecture, Apoldite said. He credits Irish immigrant and architect Patrick Charles Keeley, one of the country’s most prominent Catholic architects of his time, for the church’s grand towers and elaborate sanctuary.

The church attracts parishioners of diverse backgrounds from the Mercer County area and parts of Pennsylvania who are “very service-oriented, spiritual people who welcome each other,” Apoldite said.

“We have rich. We have poor. We have Irish, Latinos, gays, straights — you name it, we have it,” Apoldite said. “That’s the part we’re celebrating the most. We’re focused on the goodness of the people who started this and those who keep it thriving.”

Apoldite, who grew up in the Chambersburg section of Trenton, began his first term as pastor of the church in 1992, when Monsignor Leonard Toomey retired, he said. After serving five years as pastor in Trenton, he was assigned to parishes in the townships of Middletown and Hopewell.

Then, in 2007, Bishop David O’Connell, head of the Diocese of Trenton, reassigned Apoldite to the Church of the Sacred Heart, where he’s remained pastor ever since, Apoldite said.

“It’s very rare for a bishop to reassign someone, so when I came back, it was a great gift for me, and I hoped I would still be here for this celebration,” Apoldite said. “To be a part of this history is a great honor.”